2016-17 Round 11

Deckertring Grand Prix - Deckertring - Waukesha, WI

January 26, 2017

Round 11 of 16

2017 Deckertring Grand Prix

Hayek Is Back!

(Waukesha, WI) -- Matt Hayek opened the season with one of the most remarkable streaks seen in over ten years, making the final in every one of the first seven races and zoomed out to the Husarsbilt Cup points lead, but scheduling conflicts left him out of the field for round eight and missed the final in the past two events, but at the Deckertring Thursday night he looked like the driver that had been in all those races to open the season, qualifying on the front row, easily handling his heat race and the 20 minute final to take his second victory of the season at the Deckertring Grand Prix.

The win puts him back in the conversation for championship while Dan Margetta shaved off a bit of John Wiedemann's lead after the disastrous Fat Tony 400 the week before had flipped the two at the top of the points. The Deckertring Grand Prix started out with all the markings of a route for Wiedemann, who put his #19 JAM Racing Dallara-Honda third on the grid in qualifying while Margatta could only manage an eighth place start. "JW's" JAM Racing teammate Mike Lack would set the pace on the field and score his first Chick-fil-A Brookfield P1 Award of the season and first since the Shrine Cup almost a year ago.

A random draw determined the heats and Matt Hayek held off hometown favorite Mike Fitzlaff and Spehert Autosport's Bill Black in the opening heat, but "Fitz" would set a solid lap total in his second place finish. The second heat placed all three members of JAM Racing together and at first there was a fierce battle between Lack, Wiedemann and Amy Butler, but soon Butler started to lose the handle on the car and Wiedemann also seemed off pace and struggling to keep the car pointed in the right direction, hustling at the end to try and catch Fitzlaff for the transfer spot, but would come up two laps shy. In the final heat, Dan Margetta was paired up with Mike Kristof and Pete Dorn, while some "JW" fans had hopes that Kristof might be able to keep Margetta out of the final, since Wiedemann would not, those hopes were dashed along with the many crashes that Kristof suffered while trying to chase down a solid Margetta whose only challenge was trying to lap Pete Dorn in the late stages.

The final looked to be a good line up of speed and talent, but the #15 Stake-n-Shake car was the class of the field and after a couple of early laps Hayek moved away from the field and never trailed after that. The battle for second place was between Fitzlaff and Lack, eventually a better pit stop and a solid set up by the Fitz Ganassi team would allow the #10 Dallara-Chevy driver to land on the second step of the podium, matching his best finish of the season. While Lack would finish third, Margetta had no power and was basically just running around out there, his fourth place would take three points off Wiedemann's championship points lead, knocking it down to eight as the series heads to the challenge of the Quarryfest Deslotmania.

The "de-slot" rules at this Quarry Heights race rewards skill in handling as much as speed and can have very unpredictable results.

Deckertring Grand Prix Preview

(Waukesha, WI) -- Round eleven of the 2016-17 IndySlotCar season is tonight at the Deckertring. The black forest track is the longest on the schedule and features high speed straightaways and tricky turns. The battle for the Husarsbilt Cup championship continues as John Wiedemann has moved to the top spot for the first time following a win and a second place finish in the last two events, while Dan Margetta has dropped back eleven points behind after the disastrous crash out of the Fat Tony 400 at the Black Track, when Dean Strom speared the Penske HO driver out of the race. Margetta finished tenth on the night, Strom is on probation for the Deckertring Grand Prix. Expect plenty of fireworks as all these stories reconvene at the track John Shea built to be a showplace for road racing.

· Last season Mike Lack won the Deckertring Grand Prix tying a series record of four victories in a tow, en route to his third Husarsbilt Cup championship. There have been 11 races run at the Deckertring in IndySlotCar history, only five drivers have won here, this was Lack’s third, others in the field with wins include, hometown favorite Mike Fitzlaff, Dan Margetta, John Wiedemann and Ev Kamikawa.

· John Wiedemann’s second place finish and Dan Margetta’s crash out of the Black Track race flipped the lead of the point battle, Wiedemann takes over the top spot from nine points down to eleven points ahead.

· Ev Kamikawa’s win at the Fat Tony 400 makes him the fifth different winner of the season and leaps from eighth to fifth in the championship, it was his 40th victory, third in all time wins, two behind the record and one behind Dan Margetta in second.

Deckertring Grand Prix PRE-EVENT QUOTES:

Dan Margetta No 3 Penske HO Racing: I think Target should move their sponsorship from Kristof’s car to the number 16 cuz I see a bullseye on that thing!

John Wiedemann No. 19 JAM Racing: Dean Strom is my hero!

DECKERTRING HISTORY (11 events, 2007 - Present)

DateRace WinnerEvent Name

3/1/2007 Mark Walczak Deckertring Grand Prix

3/13/2008 Ev Kamikawa Deckertring Grand Prix

3/5/2009 Mark Walczak Deckertring Grand Prix

3/18/2010 Mark Walczak Deckertring Grand Prix

3/17/2011 Mike Lack Deckertring Grand Prix

9/22/2011 Mark Walczak John Shea Memorial Deckertring Grand Prix

3/1/2012 Mike Lack Outpost Natural Foods Grand Prix

2/14/2013 John Wiedemann Deckertring Grand Prix

1/30/2014 Dan Margetta Deckertring Grand Prix

2/5/2015 Mike Fitzlaff Deckertring Grand Prix

2/4/2016 Mike Lack Deckertring Grand Prix presented by FM 106.1

Most Wins: 4-Mark Walczak; 3-Mike Lack

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